Draugr: Agony of Triumph
by InTheEyesOfTheUnseenOne
Summary: I never asked to be made a slave and I never asked to join the Eclipse. But we play with the hand we are dealt and I intend to be the victor of this game. Self Insert.
1. Chapter 1

It was quiet. I was probably in an interrogation room of somekind, probably insulted well so that no agents could eavesdrop on there interrogations. The light was too damn dim to make out anything significant in the room if there was anything at all. As far as I was concerned the only thing in the room was the chair I was sitting in, and a chair on the other side. I had to have been in this room for hours, but I had been through worse. I would survive this just like I survived everything this universe through at me. I would escape this, I had to escape this.

Just as I was contemplating my inevitable escape, light flooded the darkness that encircled me. I squinted my eye to protect what little vision I had left. I looked up to see the silhouette of a horned figure flanked by two other human looking silhouettes. Just as soon as the light flooded the room it vanished, and the horned figure sat opposite of me. The light still dim, was purposed to hide the interrogators identity. I could atleast make out that this pathetic creature was a Salarian. There was an uneasy pause before he spoke in his high pitched Salarian voice.

"Do you know why you are here Human?" he asked in an angry tone.

"I don't suppose it was because of my stunning good looks, huh Salarian." I laughed.

"You have created a problems here on Omega for me. Do you remember the twenty men you killed yesterday?" He asked.

"Of course, the fools that tried to attack the resturant where I happened to be eating." I stated bluntly.

"Well those fools, as you call them, were following orders to kill high level blue suns members that happened to be eating at that same resturant. Before you decided to kill them with a pistol and a table." He yelled.

"If you are going to kill me get it over with. These long overdrawn speeches before death are so cliche." I grunted with annoyance.

"You fool, as much as I would like to kill you my superiors I contancted in Illium see you as a valuable asset to our operations here on Omega." He replied in a snarky tone.

"And what makes you think I would help you Salarian."

"For one we know who you are, you are the slave known as a Draugr the champion of the Batarian Hegemony's slave arena, and a fugitive of their law."

"And that matters why?" I asked confidently.

"Because if you don't help us then we will send you back gift wrapped for the Batarians and collect the bounty. I don't think you want to waste all your days and talents to entertain rich Batarian nobles am I right?"

I looked at him defiantley but knew I had no choice. "You are right Salarian. So what do you have in mind?"

"I knew you would see reason. Our offer is simple you will be an elite shock trooper, when things get too heated for our regular commandos then you will be deployed to handle the situation." He stated simply.

"And what makes you think I can handle that?" I asked rhetorically.

"You killed an entire squad of elite eclipse Mercenaries, I think you can handle it."

We sat in silence for another minute before I asked the question he had been waiting for. "So when do I start."

He smiled "Immediatelly."

I soon as he said it lights flooded the room and I was blinded again.

"Aeian, as soon as his sight recovers I want you to take him downstairs to be processed." he said to one of his guards.

"Yes, Jaroth." the woman replied.

As my eyes adjusted I looked up to see an asari with red markings on her face. She was about 5'6 and looked like she had seen some shit in her time. "Well didn't I get lucky." I said as I eyed her up and down.

"In your dreams big guy. Follow me so we can get all the necessary information down."

I followed her out of the interrogation room and into a hallway bustling with activity. I saw cammandos headed to what looked like an armory/firing range, techs fooling around with the latest mechs, and biotics training in the rooms as we passed.

"You like?" she asked as she probably noticed my slack jaw.

"Yes, this is a lot more organized than I expected." I stated bluntly.

"What did you expect exactly? We are the oldest mercenary group and have had centuries to perfect our art."

"I don't know but not this. How aren't you guys running Omega by now." I asked.

"Numbers, we are vastly outnumbered here on Omega by the bloodpack and the blue suns." She stated simply.

"Heh, what ever happend to brains over braun?"

"Well to take Omega we have learned that it is just as much about force as it is about brains. We have more than enough brain, but we don't have the force necessary to take us over the edge. Hopefully you can change that."

"Yeah, hopefully." I said distantly. I said as we made our way down the stairs to the next floor down.

"Now let's start this off." she said as we walked into a room that looked like a lab and a gym combined.

"What is your name."

"Draugr."

"I mean your real name." she said clearly annoyed with that answer.

I just looked at her for a minute.

"Draugr it is then. How tall are you."

"Last time I checked I was 6'7."

"Good, now hold still." she said as she scanned me with her omitool.

"What was that."

"Just checking for abnormalities. It seems you intense trauma throughout your body."

"Tell me something I don't know."

"Don't be a smartass. Now it is time for the next test."

"What is the next te-" I was interrupted by a Biotic fist hitting my face and launching me back seven feet.

I sat there stunned for a split second before my training kicked in. Just as she was about to charge at me I tackled her and quickly pinned her. I headbutted her three times before she launched me off of her and into a wall.

"Ahh." I grunted as I fell to the ground. I quickly recovered and charged her. She sidestepped and tried to kick me in the bakc of the head, but I spun around and grabbed her leg before I pushed my entire body weight onto her.

"Submit!" I yelled as I pushed her leg down toward her head more.

"Ahhh!" She yelled but did not submit.

"Last chance." I yelled as I pushed it down again.

"I submit I submit!" she cried.

"Good." I said as I got up and extended my hand down to her.

"I can tell you are going to be a great asset to our operations here Draugr. Defeating a experienced commando is no easy task." she said as she rubbed her leg.

"I aim to impress."


	2. First Missions and Bad Memories

_ONE WEEK LATER_

**MISSION: ELIMINATE BLUE SUNS PERSONNEL IN DISTRICT 313 AND PROVIDE SUPPORT FOR PINNED DOWN COMMANDOS...**

"Saint Michael the Archan-"

"What were you saying?" Aeian asked curiously.

"Nothing, just something that my father always said." I replied as I lifted my head up and looked out the shuttle we were in. The poverty and the death of this station was depressing, but atleast the Eclipse had a good cook at their, I mean our headquarters.

"Are you ready?" She asked as she got suited up in her armor.

"I won't be if I keep looking at you get in that very form fitting armor." I said with a grin.

"Give it up big guy, i'm not a matron yet." She said as she finished up with the lower portions of the armor.

"How old are you exactly?" I asked genuinely curious. As far as I was concerned she could be anywhere between one hundred to five hundred. She wasn't a matriarch that's for sure.

"Don't you humans think it is wrong to ask a woman her age?" She asked finshing her chest peice.

"Asari aren't women, technically you are monogendered." I said with a smile.

"You did your homework how nice. On a serious not though how is that armor?"

I looked at the armor again. It was heavy armor looked almost like COG armor from Gear of war. It was majority black with a yellow sun outlined on the chest with yellow stripes on the side. All in all It was pretty nice.

"Good. So what guns am I getting." I asked excitedley.

"Settle down there Draugr." She said with a laugh before she finished up her armor and headed over to the other end of the shuttle to retrieve a large case.

She opened up the case and I saw a beautiful assortment of weaponry, shotguns, assault rifles, sniper rifles, pistols, and a grenade launcher.

"I think I might cry." I said wiping a nonexistant tear for dramatic effect.

She giggled "Well you're in luck, pick whichever you like."

I looked down again and picked an M-76 Revenant, an M-6 Carnifex, and an M-100 Grenade Launcher. Short and sweet, I was assigned to charge in and kill everything I saw and these weapons were gonna be my tools.

"Good, we will be arriving to the district in a couple of minutes." She said as she looked at her omnitool.

"I have an idea of how we can kill some time." I said suggestively.

"Will you ever give up?"

"No."

We soon arrived at the drop zone, too quickly if you ask me. It was littered with bodies from the Eclipse and Blue Suns. The Blue suns were defending what looked to be their main base of operations in this district.

Me and Aeian quickly exited the shuttle and made our way to the battle. I quickly slipped in to my arena training and took out three blue suns mercs that were advancing on our position.

"So how are we going to do this?" Aeian asked as she took out a Turian with her sniper rifle.

"Like this." I said as I got out of cover and killed another two blue suns before Aeian tackled me to the ground and dragged me to cover.

"What are you doing?" She yelled.

"My job." I stated bluntly. I got back out of cover and killed two Batarians on the rooftop and then took out a human.

"Your job is not to get killed!" She yelled as she used her biotics to take out another merc.

"And your job is not to be my mother."

I ran into the building and quickly twisted the neck of a human cowering under a desk.

"DRAUGR!" I heard Aeian yell.

"What!" I yelled back.

"Your leg." she stated bluntly.

I looked down at my leg and saw blood leaking out of my armor. All of a sudden pain shot through my leg but I ignored it.

I tried to press on but I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned and saw Aeian with a stern look on her face.

"Sit" she said.

"What if the Suns press forward?" I asked.

She looked over her shoulder and for the first time I saw a squad of our fellow Eclipse follow us into the building.

"Lana, secure this position." She commanded the Asari known as Lana.

I sat down as commanded and Aeian applied Medigel to my leg. The cooling sensation immediately got rid of the pain and I stood up.

"Let's go." I said she Aeian and the squad followed me.

We made our way to the second floor of the buidling and were quickly a fired upon by what looked to be thirty Suns.

I quickly dove behind a wall followed by Aeian and other members of the squad.

"Status!" I yelled as I peaked behind the cover.

"Three dead and two injured." Lana said as she looked at her squad.

"Lana leave three of your squad here to guard the wounded."

"Where are we going?" She asked.

"Forward." I said as I pulled out the grenade launcher and mowed down any Suns in my way. after about a minute and seven grenades later the majority of the suns were lying in pieces on the ground.

"Come on." I grunted as I executed any living members of the Suns left in the room.

We moved up another flight of stairs and we saw a group of Suns guarding one door.

"Must be where the commander is." I stated bluntly. Raising my assault rille.

Before I could fire I felt a hand on my arm. "Let me." Aeian said as she lifted all five men into the air. We quickly opened fire and all of them were dead on the ground.

"Why would guards of the commander not have any biotic dampeners?" I asked as we moved toward the door.

"I would say we got lucky, but I have a bad feeling about this." Aeian said from behind me.

I kicked open the and saw something that made my heart stop. A bomb and it was just about to go off.

"FIND COVER!" I yelled as I tackled Aeian to the ground before the bomb exploded.

_"Why don't I have armor?" I asked in a quiet voice._

_"Haha, because you and the others we picked up yesterday, are canonfodder for the champion." The Batarian slaver said with a smile._

_"Why even have us fight if everyone knows we are going to lose?" I asked._

_"Sometimes the Batarian people want a fight, other times though they want a slaughter." He laughed._

_I looked at him with bewilderment. How could someone get so much pleasure out of causing others pain?_

_"We're here, get in this pen and we will send you up." He said as he pointed to a caged elevator that I assumed took me to the arena._

_I walked in knowing I didn't have any other choice. The elevator started moving and I started bargaining with any deity I had ever hear of to make this all a dream, to take me back home, but none of were listening apparently because the lift opened and I was blinded by the sun._

_I heard the crowd errupt in applause but not for us tributes, no, but for the fully armored Batarian across the field. Armed with only an assult rifle he immediately opened fire. Two of the Asari and a Salarian bought it first. I rand for cover and jumped behind a large piece of metal that was in the middle of the field._

_I looked up from my cover to discover something horrible. We weren't the first wave. There had to be over seventy bodies in the arena. All bleeding various shades of blood._

_I turned to my right and saw 3 humans fall to their deaths. I was immediatley panicking again but I swallowed it knowing I couldn't pass out again. I had to stay alive._

_Just as I was about to look up again somebody ran and sat right next to me. I turned to see it was an asari with purple markings on her face._

_"By the fucking Goddess, screw these Batarians." She said as a hail of bullets hit our cover._

_I just looked at her in shock for a second before I silently nodded my head._

_"So you got any plan." She asked me._

_I shook my head._

_"Shit, let me think." She looked around until, with the help of her biotics, she tore a piece of metal off of the cover._

_"Here take this. I am going to distract him with my biotics. You sneak up on him and stab him from behind._

_"But I can't-" I started_

_"Yes you can you have to, because if you don't we could all die here. The turian is across the field and the other human and salarian bought it about two minutes ago." She said._

_"Okay, I'll try." I said quietly as I shook my head._

_She ran out of cover and started using her biotics to distract him. He must of had some advanced dampaners to hold off those attacks as he was still standing there shooting at her. I went from cover to cover and slowly made my way up to him. The Turian must of noticed what I was up to as he was doing the same thing. I got behind him with the piece of metal to his back. I used all of my strength to penetrate his armor and nothing happened. He quickly turned around and grabbed me. He took the piece of metal out of my hands and lowered it to left eye. I stared into his masked face as if searching for a soul in a demon. He pushed the piece of metal into my eye. The pain was so unbearable that I couldn't make a sound. Then it stopped sinking into my eye and I saw the Turian pull a piece of metal out of the Batarians neck._

"Draugr, stay with me!" I heard Aeian yell as I came to.

"Damn they fucked up I have died and gone to Asari heaven." I said as I looked at Aeian.

"You are such an asshole!" She yelled before she helped me up. "But I am happy that you are alive."

"What's the status of the others." I asked as I rubbed my sore back.

"I lost another four men." Said Lana with a grunt as she tried to stand up.

I looked around and helped the others who were still alive stand up.

"Mission accomplished we have driven the Blue Suns out of district 313." Aeian said with a smile.

"It seems that they destroyed all their information along with the commanders quarters with that bomb though. Damn that probably had some great intel." She said a little disappointed.

"How about we head back to base and you give me a massage." I said dramatically holding my back.

"How about no," She said deadpan. "But you can give me a massage." She said with a smile.

"Yes ma'am." I said as we made our way back to base.


	3. Massage and Arrangements

"Home sweet headquarters." I said with joy as our shuttle approached the headquarters for the Eclipse.

"I agree completely." Aeian said as she got up from her seat and walked over to the hatch.

The Shuttle soon touched down and we saw ourselves out. I was fully intent on going to my quarters and taking a long nap.

"And just where do you think you're going?" I heard Aeian ask from behind me.

"To take a well deserved nap." I stated bluntly

"But if you do that who will give me a massage?" Aeian said playfully

That got my attention "I thought you were Joking."

"I never joke when it comes to a free massage. Follow me." She stated bluntly

I followed her until we got to her quarters and boy was it nice. "Make yourself at home while I go freshen up." Aeian said

She had beautiful sculptures and works of art from various species. She had a fountain in the middle of her room and many other beautiful things, but what stood out the most for me was the picture on her nightstand. It had a young Aeian with a proud looking Turian man.

I walked over to the nightstand and picked up the picture. I smiled as I looked at it, Aeian looked so happy in the picture.

"Going through my things I see, are you wondering who it is?" I heard Aeian from behind me.

I turned around and my jaw dropped the only thing that Aeian was wearing was a robe that stopped about mid thigh.

I quickly recovered, after I took in as much as I could mind you "Yeah, who is it?"

She walked over and took the picture from my hands and looked at it with longing. "That was my father." She whispered.

"I see, I bet you miss him." I said quietly.

She looked up at me. "Yeah I do, but you learn to accept it as time goes by." She said as she put the picture back on her nightstand.

"So how old are you again?" I asked with a smirk.

"Don't ruin the moment. Now turn around so I can get on the bed without you peaking." She said with a laugh

I turned around and waited for her to tell me when she was ready.

"Ready, lotion is on the nightstand."

I turned around and all I could see was a bare blue back on her bed. Just when I think this entire universe is bad it gives me something so good.

I walked over and got the lotion ready. I was about to apply it to her back but I hesitated for a minute.

She must have noticed my hesitation. "Go ahead I don't bite."

I applied the lotion and started rubbing her back when she asked me a question.

"So where are you from."

That question caught me off guard. "Khar'shan." I stated bluntly.

"I mean before you became a slave."

I guess it wouldn't hurt telling her I mean New Orleans still exists in the Mass Effect Universe right, but if it didn't oh God there will be no decent Mardi Gras celebrations.

"New Orleans."

"Oh, right there." She said as my hands hit a particularly tough knot. "New Orleans, and where's that?" She asked as I continued the massage.

"Earth."

She looked at me wit half lidded eyes. "Have you ever thought of going back to Earth?"

I laughed a little at that. "No, I think Earth might have changed too much since I was there last time."

I slipped into a comfortable silence while I massaged her until she asked me another question.

"What is your name? and don't you dare say fucking Draugr, I mean your real name."

What would it hurt really if someone knew my real name, but then again somebody might track something up about me, maybe."Tell you what i'll tell you my name when you tell me how old you are sound like a deal." I said with a laugh.

"Deal, we can discuss it over dinner this weekend." She stated bluntly

"Dinner huh, I knew you would warm up to me."

"Don't hold your breath big guy maybe the Eclipse assigned me to get information out of you." She said jokingly.

"If they assigned you to get information out of me we would be doing more than just a massage." I stated bluntly

"Touché, so this weekend?"

"Yeah this weekend."

**Author's Note: Yeah this chapter was mostly just filler and allowed me to explore a little more about Draugr and Aeian. I will do these kinds of chapters every now and then. So next Chapter Aeian and Draugr go on a date and things will get heated, just not in the way Draugr planned.**


	4. Dinner and an Unexpected Date

_"Draugr..." I said as I got used to the title._

_"Yes you've earned it." Said the master as he sat infront of me. "I wanted to give you a name that was unmistakebly Human." He taunted as he took a sip of his Thessian wine._

_"What does it mean." I asked from my standing position infront of him._

_"I believe it means an undead monster that wreaks havoc on the living." He said with a smile._

_"It fits." I said bluntly as I stared at the wall._

_"Of course it does. You have come a long way from the young human that was scared and helpless. I have crafted you in my image." he said as he rubbed the leg of one of his Asari house slaves._

_"Why now?" I asked confused as to why he would give me a title. It was an honor in Batarian culture to be given a title in place of your birthname._

_"Because you have killed for me, you have bled for me, and I know that you will make me more money than any of the other slaves I have ever had." He said._

_"And how do you know this?" I asked._

_"Because you have been in the arena seventy five times and have never lost, sure you may have had serious injuries but that is to be expected. Your instinct for survival is simply amazing." He said with a laugh._

_I said nothing as I stared at him with distrust in my eyes. 'This was a trick' I thought. As soon as I leave this room he will order my lashings._

_He must have noticed the look I was giving him because said something I would have never expected, "Tell you what, take the Asari back to your chambers and have your way with her."_

_"What!?" I asked I couldn't believe it._

_"Come on Draugr, I know you could use the relief. The stress is getting to you and I need my best Gladiator in tip shape for the Arena next week." He said has he rubbed the Asari's shoulders._

_I looked at her blue skin, and her beautiful azure eyes. I wanted her, and I could have her._

_"Thank you master." I said bluntly._

_"I will have her delivered to your quarters." He said with a smile. "Doctore, escort this slave out."_

I woke up silently as I looked in the mirror. What had possessed me to accept that offer, to take advantage of a fellow slave. It was easy to justify my actions when I was back in Khar'shun, but now that I was among civilized, or atleast somewhat civilized people I now realized that a lot of things I did were morally reprehensible. I somewhat missed the days when I was THE Draugr and not just Draugr, but I would chock that one up to stockholm syndrome most likely.

I turned to look at the clock and realized my afternoon nap had taken me all the way to the evening, and I had to get ready for a date with a beautiful Asari.

I still hadn't figured out what our relationship was. Was it just witty banter and playful flirting or was it something more.

I quickly got a shower and put on the somewhat nice clothes I had. A leather jacket and some jeans would have to do. Hey i'm a guy I don't go shopping for clothes.

I quickly put on the clothes, adjusted my eye patch, and walked out the door.

I quickly made it to Aeian's quarters and knocked on the door.

"Come in."

I slowly walked in and my jaw hit the floor. There was Aeian, but she was not in her normal combat or security attire, no she was in an in a long white dress that exposed her belly button.

"See something you like?" She asked playfully from the other side of the room.

"No when I first saw you, I saw something I liked," I stated bluntly "but right now I am seeing something I love."

"So shall we go?" She asked still giggling from my comment.

"Sure, but I can't promise you'll make it there still wearing that dress."

"In your dreams, this is not a date just two colleague getting to know each other." she stated bluntly

"Whatever you say Aeian." I said with a smirk

We quickly borrowed one of the transport shuttles from the base and made our way to a restaurant I had found on the extranet.

"Give me the wheel." Aeian said rather bluntly.

"Why, where are we going?"

"You'll see." She said as she took control of the shuttle.

She quickly piloted the shuttle to a little section of Afterlife at the very top I vaguely remembered it as the VIP section from Samara's loyalty mission.

"How can you get into the VIP section." I asked a little confused, she didn't seem the party type.

"I know a guy and it beats having to be surrounded by strippers on the lower levels."

We got out of the shuttle and quickly locked arms. We made our way to the older looking Krogan guarding the door. He looked like he was about to say something, but before he could say anything Aeian interrupted him with one word "Jaruut."

"Head on in." the Krogan grunted.

Soon we were in the nicest part of Afterlife, arm in arm. Aeian quickly guided me over to a booth and ordered two glasses of Thessian wine.

"Fancy." I stated as I continued to admire her in that dress.

She giggled "It should be it is coming out of your paycheck."

"No problem with that, I don't go out enough for it to affect me." I said truthfully.

"So what is your name." she asked with a smile

"Nope, age first."

She folded her arms and pouted. but when she saw it didn't affect me she gave in. "Fine, I am 327, happy."

"Very." I said very satisfied with myself. Our wine soon came and it tasted fantastic, tangy, but also very sweet.

"And you see no problem with that?" She asked

"Why should I?"

"I am entering the Matron stage soon. I already feel like the mercenary life isn't for me anymore, I want to do something important with my talents, something that makes a difference." She said exasperated.

"That seems very noble." I said quietly

"What about you Draugr, do you ever get tired of fighting."

"It is the only thing I know how to do these days, and I get the feeling I will need to step it up in the coming years." I said remembering the reapers.

"Maybe, but atleast you could fight for a cause. Don't get me wrong the Eclipse are great, but it is all bullshit. The Eclipse, the Suns, and whoever else. Mercenary work is just a waste of time." She said as she drank her wine.

"Agreed."

"Do you wanna dance." Aeian asked as she got up from the booth.

"Sure."

We walked to the dance floor and I got to see a sight. Aeian beautiful Asari form basking in several different lights as her body glided across the dance floor. As for me let's just say I dance better than Shepard.

We glided closer together and how bodies became in sync with the beat of the music. I looked into her eyes and she looked into mine.

We slowly started to drift closer together until an explosion hit the floor. We were knocked hard into the side of the wall.

As the smoke cleared we saw a group of ten Blue Suns mercs. With no armor and no weapons we were screwed.

"What do we do?" I asked Aeian as we took cover behind the bar.

Aeian was in full combat mode when she replied,"All we have to do is stay alive until Aria's men get here. She is going to be pissed."

I looked behind our cover and it seemed like the Suns were indiscriminately mowing anyone down.

"Goddamn those assholes." I said. I turned to look at Aeian and saw that she had a pistol out.

"Where did you get the pistol." I asked. I would have noticed a pistol in that form fitting dress.

"Mysteries of a woman darling." She said as she handed the pistol to me.

"What about you?"

"I have my biotics, remember." She stated like it was the most obvious thing in the entire world.

"Right." I said slipping back into my training. I came out of cover quickly enough to take out two of the Suns trying to kill a Turian couple.

I was quickly shot at by the remaining Suns and I dove back into cover.

Aeian quickly lifted three of the suns into the air and I shot them as many times as time permitted.

I turned to shoot another when a terrible sound came to my ears. *click*

Out of ammo that was just great.

The Suns must have noticed it too because they quickly stormed our position, but before they could reach us a hail of bullets smashed into them. I turned and saw Aria's men swarm the place.

Joy filled me at the fact that I was still alive, then I felt a hand on my shoulder spin me around and felt a pair of lips on mine.

Aeian was kissing me fuck yes!

After the kiss she looked me dead in the eyes. "What was your name again." She asked with a laugh.

"Thomas, my name is Thomas." I said as I dove in for another kiss.


	5. Retaliation and Revelations

_Three weeks later..._

"Aeian, Draugr do you know why you are in here." Jaroth asked as he sat on the other side of his desk.

"No sir, but I trust it is of the utmost importance." Aeian stated as she fidgeted a little in her seat. I took it she was not used to being called up to the boss man's office.

"You would be correct, three weeks ago you two were attacked at the VIP section of Afterlife. Why you were together is your own business, but the foolish attack by the Blue Suns has angered Aria, and she has given us and the Bloodback intel on the Blue Suns main headquarters here on Omega, if we take that out we would have a window to seize up to twenty percent of the smuggling on Omega." Jaroth said excitedly fast. Huh, I guess they are like over hyperactive hampsters.

"Yeah, just one problem bub. What about the Bloodpack? Who's to say they won't turn on us?" I asked putting my feet up on his desk.

"Draugr, the Bloodpack don't care about smuggling operations, they just want to take Blue Suns territory. The territory we are taking is far away from the territory the Bloodpack are seizing, Garm is not stupid enough to waste this opportunity." He stated snarkily slowly pushing my feet off.

Garm I remembered him from Archangel's mission, leader of the Bloodpack on Omega and tough son of a Bitch to kill. Hope we didn't have to fight him.

"So where do we come in?" Aeian asked.

"You two will be deployed along with Lana's task force. You will attack the base with four other squads from the North side. The Bloodpack will be attacking from the south side with seven squads, and Aria will deploy her Elite guard on the roof to take out Tarak. Without their leader we might be able to double the territory we take in the ensuing confusion."

"So when is this going down?" I asked bluntly.

"In a couple of hours the other squads are already suiting up, I suggest you two do the same."

"Yes sir." Aeian said as she got up and headed for the door.

I silently got up and walked after her, by the time I got out of the door she was already halfway down the hall.

"Aeian, wait up." I said walking towards her.

"Hey." she said awkwardly.

"What's up you have been avoiding me since Afterlife." I said looking at her.

She looked down and then looked at me determinedly,"Listen Draugr this is not gonna work out you and me. We are mercenaries we could die at any time, and it isn't fair to either of us. So let's just pretend that Afterlife didn't happen."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing,"Seriously? That is no excuse almost every person you could have dated since you joined the Eclipse was a mercenary."

"Just drop it okay?"

I looked in her eyes and could tell she was hiding something, but decided to drop it. I silently nodded and headed to my quarters.

I quickly put on my armor and got my weapons ready. I soon made my way to the shuttle where Aeian and Lana's squad was waiting.

"Set a course for the headquarters." Aeian commanded the pilot.

"ETA two hours ma'am." The pilot said.

"Good good, everybody listen up this is our objective..." I totally blocked the rest out as bowed my head and took a long deserved nap that I had been holding off since we were in Jaroth's office.

_"Please, Please don't kill me." Whispered the Asari I had beaten to the ground._

_I looked at her with pity before I turned my head to the crowd. I didn't want to do this, but if I didn't then we would both die. It was better that one of us parished instead of both, right?_

_I plunged my knife into her throat and gently cupped her face in my hands._

_"I'm sorry." I whispered as I cupped her face and lowered her to the ground. The applause that erupted around me seemed meaningless in that moment. What had she ever done to me? _

_"DRAUGR, DRAUGR, DRAUGR!" How could these four eyed freaks actually cheer this barbaric act on. _

_I slowly walked out of the arena and into the cells bellow. _

_"If it isn't the Draugr. Are you going to kill me next huh?!" Yelled a terry eyed Asari from the cell in front of me._

_"SHUT UP SLAVE!" Yelled a Batarian Slaver. _

_"Let her speak." I said as I walked up to bars of my cell. _

_"If you say so Draugr." The Batarian grunted. When I was given the title Draugr I became more than a mere slave, I became a celebrated gladiator. It had it's perks to say the least._

_"Who do you think you are? That you can kill all of us and never think twice about it._

_I stared at her silently for a minute until she decided to speak again._

_"Do you even feel anything?" She asked quietly as she looked into my eye as if searching for something._

_I quickly turned around and walked over to the end of cell and laid on my side._

_"I feel everything." I said quietly as a single tear fell down my face._

"DRAUGR WAKE UP!" I heard Aeian yell as I opened my eyes.

I looked around and our shuttle was in pieces. The sound of gunfire was everywhere. "What happened!" I yelled over the noise.

"Someone must have alerted the Suns about our plans. Their gunships used our shuttles as target practice." Yelled back Aeian as she fired at a group of Blue Suns advancing on our position.

I quickly got up and took out my assault rifle. "How many of us are left?" I asked as I fired at another group of Suns trying to advance.

"All in all probably one whole squad." She said picking off three more Suns with her sniper rifle.

"And Aria's guard?" I asked as my shields suffered a blow.

"The turned tail and ran before they even deployed." she grunted as she shot another Sun.

"And the bloodpack?" I asked killing five more.

She picked off two more "Probably in the same situation, if not worse."

"We've got to fall back!" I yelled as I reloaded my rifle.

"Tell me something I don't know!" She shouted angrily.

"Then why aren't we retreating."

She looked at me dead in the eyes."Orders are to stay put."

"You are actually following orders, no I was waiting for you to wake up. Come on." She said positioning herself to retreat.

I turned and looked at the other surviving members. Two Salarians, a Human woman, and Lana.

"What about you guys?" I asked.

"I'll stay back and hold the line!" Lana yelled

"Are you crazy you will die!" exclaimed one of the Salarians.

"That is the plan, their is no greater honor than to die in battle!" Lana yelled as she killed another Sun.

"If you're staying we are staying." the two Salarians exclaimed simultaneously.

"I'm going with you." The Human woman said as me and Aeian prepared to retreat.

As soon as the gunfire settled down a little, we took our chance and ran for it. Gunfire immediately hit my shields and I was starting to fell the sting of bullets even through my armor.

"AHHH!" Yelled the woman behind me as her shields failed and bullets peirced through her armor.

"Dammit!" I yelled over the gunfire.

When ran a couple more yards before I heard Aeian yell. "FUCK!"

Aeian tumbled to the ground before I picked her up and continued running. My shields were failing fast, but we we close to a skycar.

"What happened?!" I asked.

"Son of a bitch got me in the leg." She said applying medigel to it quickly.

a couple more yards and we made it to the skycar. I put her in the passengers seat and lifted us off the ground. It was a combination of flying and driving, It was a lot like Ace Combats controls.

I flew us away and the sound of gunfire faded. I felt a hand on my shoulder, that was quickly followed by a kiss on the lips.

"Thank you" Aeian said as she looked me in the eyes.

"So, who was he?" I asked.

"Who was who?"

I looked at her dead in the eyes "The guy who made you afraid of commitment."

She looked out the window for a minute before she whispered. "Her name was Lilla."

I looked at her sympathetically "She died." I stated.

She silently nodded.

"You don't have to worry about that with me." I stated confidently

"And why is that?" She asked with a sniffle.

"Because I am the Draugr." I grinned

She laughed quietly and we slipped into a comfortable silence until we reached the headquarters.


	6. Seeing an Angel

_Two months later..._

_"KILL, KILL. KILL!" The crowd chanted on and on as I looked down at the Turian beneath my feet._

_She was cowering in fear after I shot both of her legs. I slowly bent down and looked into her eyes._

_"Do you hear that?" I asked looking at her seriously._

_She nodded as she looked down to the ground the dust from the arena having long settled since I shot her._

_I looked at her again "Die with honor Turian!" I shouted as I took out my knife._

_She immediately resolved herself and looked at me defiantley. "Why do you do this?"_

_I plunged my knife into her throat and twisted. "Self preservation." I whispered._

_All of a sudden an electric shock coursed thorugh my being. What was this? This wasn't a memory. Everything started going black and I fell to the ground._

_I woke up and noticed I was on a bed that was like a hospital gurney. Around me were three or four figures with their hands over me, two on each side, as if they were praying. I wasn't allowed to look straight at them, but I had the impression they were thin pencil-like figures of light who could appear in any form they wanted. They were uttering what seemed like an ancient language. "Who are you?" I asked the one on my left, who seemed to be in charge._

_"Look forward," said this entity. _

_I stared at it defiantly, so it grabbed my head and pushed it forward._

_"Look!" He indicated toward the door, and on that door I saw the most frightening thing of my life: the face of a demon, etched and yet alive, living, sneering, full of a hatred I had never before seen and could not hope to adequately describe._

_"What is this?" I yelled struggling against my restraints. _

_"This is what you shall become if you continue on your path." The being stated calmly._

_"What path?" I asked looking anywhere, but at the creature in front of me._

_"You know what you must do." It said as it got close to my face. "Now wake up!"_

*Gasp* I woke up in a cold sweat, surveying the room. Everything was normal no weird beings, no dead Turian. Just sculptures and works of art on the walls.

"What is it?" Aeian said sitting up on her side of the bed looking at me with a concerned face.

I looked her in the eyes and smiled "Nothing, just a bad dream. You can go back to sleep."

"Kinda useless now." She said looking at the clock.

I looked at it and it was almost noon. "Well damn." I laughed

"Damn, is right we gotta get suited up for the mission." She said getting out of bed and putting her underclothes on.

"Mission? What Mission." I said getting up and hugging her from behind.

"Cut it out, this mission is serious." She said wiggling out of my arms.

"And what makes it so important?"

"We are escorting Jaroth's brother to a transport in district 725. We can't screw this on up. Jaroth has been pissed every since the failed Blue Suns attack." She said getting her armor ready.

Come to think of it the boss man had been more prone to fits of rage since we failed to deliver on that attack.

"I guess your right, but what is so important about this transport." I asked going to get my armor out of the closet.

She finished the lower portions of her armor and looked at me "Apparently we are transporting enough tainted element zero to cover the credits we lost attacking the Suns."

"Sounds nice." I grunted.

We finished getting our armor on and made our way to the meeting place where we would start escorting Jaroth's brother.

We had to have been waiting for two hours before he finally showed, but when we saw him we were in for a surprise.

"He's just a fucking kid." I commented looking him up and down. It was true he couldn't have been much older than thirteen which wasn't that young for a Salarian, but much too young to be put in charge of a dangerous mission.

"So shall we be off?" He asked looking at Aeian and me nervously

"You're the boss, you're call." Aeian stated bluntly

He fidgeted some more before replying "In that case let's get to the transport."

We walked for a good thirty before we made it to the drop zone.

"I told Jaroth I wouldn't need you two and it seems my assumptions were right, everything is going smoothly." The kid said as he walked into the transport.

Aeian was about to follow when I grabbed her shoulder. "Something isn't right where is the crew of the ship?" I asked.

Just as soon as I said it an explosion engulfed the entire ship knocking me and Aeian back several yards.

"Dammit!" I heard Aeian yell as she slowly got up.

I silently agreed and looked around. Suddenly I saw a Turian in blue armor running away from the scene. I got up immediately and gave chase.

He must have noticed me because a bullet whizzed passed me as I closed in on him. We ran all through the street before I tackled him through the window of a restaurant.

I punched him in his helmeted head multiple times before He kicked me off of him him and tried to make a run for it. I quickly grabbed my pistol and shot him in the leg.

"Fuck!" I heard the Turian yell.

I pulled out my knife and approached his cowering form. "Die with honor Turian." I stated before I heard a loud crackle that sounded almost like a lightening blast.

Pain like being shocked quickly coursed through me and I fell on my knees.

All of a sudden another Turian came into view. "Sidonis are you okay?" He asked the wounded Turian.

"Yeah Garrus i'll live. What should we do about him?" Asked Sidonis as I looked into Garrus's eyes.

He pulled out his pistol and pointed it at my head. "It's not going to end this way." I said more to myself then anyone else in the room.

"I'm afraid it is human." Garrus said before I heard the swoosh of biotics pull me out of the restaurant and into the street.

"Stay with me Draugr." I heard Aeian yell before blackness consumed me.


	7. Angels and Demons

_Three days later..._

_Darkness, I was surrounded by darkness. To most people they would be afraid of it, but I welcomed it. The darkness brought with it peace, and closure._

_All of a sudden serene silence was interrupt by the sound of crying._

_I turned around and saw an Asari on the ground crying into her hands._

_I slowly approached her, and bent down to meet her at eye level. "What's wrong?" I asked._

_"Why?" I heard her whisper._

_"Why, what? What's wrong?" I asked confusedly._

_"Why?" she asked through gritted teeth. As she looked at me with her blood shot eyes._

_"I don't have time for this." I said as I got up to leave._

_"Come back and finish what you started." I heard her yell._

_"And what did I..." I shut up when I saw her throat. "You." I said quietly._

_I saw her face contort in anger as she rushed me. We fell to the ground in a heap as she punch and scratched me all over._

_I pushed her off and my training kicked in. I immediately grabbed her neck and squeezed with all my strength._

_She looked at me with fear and confusion before I saw the light in her eyes fade._

_"Good Draugr, just like I taught you." A voice said tauntingly. It was the master._

_"Where are you?" I yelled as I looked around for that four eyed son of a bitch._

_"I'm over here." I heard a whisper to my left._

_I turned to look and saw a mirror._

_"What is this?" I asked as I stared at my reflection._

_"Wake up." my reflection said._

_All of a sudden the darkness was replaced by blinding light._

"Thomas, please wake up." I heard someone whisper to my left. I turned my head and saw Aeian with her head on my arm.

"Aww man they fucked up and sent me to Asari heaven." I laughed quietly

"THOMAS!" She yelled as she hugged me and squeezed with all her might.

Pain shot through me but I dealt with it. "Easy now, don't wanna break me so soon."

She let up and looked me in the eyes lovingly, then punched me in the chest.

"What the hell was that for!" I yelled gripping my wound.

"That was for almost dying on me," She said looking at me hard, "and this is for surviving a sniper shot to the chest." She gripped my face and kissed me.

I sniper shot to the chest? Damn i'm not that good. How did Aeian get me out of that situation.

"So tell me how we got out of that mess." I asked getting up from the bed in the med bay.

"I have my charms."She said with a grin

She really expected me to believe that. "So a Turian who had all intents and purposes to kill me, you convinced to spare my life and yours no strings attached?"

"That's what i'm saying." She said as she helped me up out of the bed. She was hiding something, but I couldn't put my finger on what. Garrus would have never spared a criminal in the game, I mean he was intent on killing Sidonis after he betrays him.

She got me up and we slowly made our way out of the med bay. We made it to the atrium and I looked up at where Jaroth's office was. "How's he taking it?" I asked referring to the loss of his brother.

She looked up at me "Not well, he has shut himself in his office and refuses to talk to anyone."

"Can't say I blame him, if I lost any of my brothers I would do the same thing." I said looking up at his office sympathetically.

"I didn't know you had brothers." Aeian grinned as she locked arms with me.

Dammit, that was my bad, had to recover. "I haven't seen them in a long time." I stated distantly

"You ever though of looking them up?" She asked.

I looked down at her and grinned "What, so I could show off my beautiful Asari womanfriend?" I asked playfully

"Seriously don't you want to see them." She asked looking in my eyes

I looked back "Thing are too different now." I said quietly

We slipped into a comfortable silence until we reached Aeian's quarters.

"Draugr, we need to talk." She said seriously

I looked at her worriedly "What's up?"

"Things have been hectic these past few days and Jaroth has been making a lot of calls to our superiors in Illium." She said scanning her room.

"What's going on Aeian?" I asked seriously.

She looked back at me "I think that Jaroth is thinking about handing you over to the Batarians." She stated bluntly. Why would she be spying on Jaroth?

"What am I gonna do?" I asked looking her in the eyes.

"You mean what are we going to do."

"Of course," I laughed " what are we gonna do?"

"Jaroth has scheduled for us and a unit of troopers to pick up another shipment of tainted element zero. We are gonna go, kill the crew, kill the troopers, and then commandeer the transport ship." She said seriously.

"Sounds like a plan. Let's get ready." I said already going to get my armor ready.

It took a couple of hours to get everything ready and plan everything out.

We made our way to the shuttle that would take us to the transport and looked at the unit assigned to us. It was no regular unit, these were elite mercs. Something was very wrong with this mission, but I was gonna stick to the plan.

I looked over to Aeian and she nodded. We were on the same page.

It took about an hour but we finally made it to the transport. The entire bay was deserted which was odd for Omega, there was usually some seedy deals going on, but not here and not now.

We got out with the unit and made out way to the transport. As soon as the hatch opened I knew something was wrong. A squad of Batarians came flooding out followed by a helmeted Batarian in some very advanced looking armor.

"If it isn't the Draugr. Look at him men, is he not everything I said he was." He said as he took off his helmet. The master, dammit Jaroth worked fast. How was I going to get out of this.

"Well don't look so surprised it was only a matter of time before your mercenary friends betrayed you." He said as the elite unit of Eclipse mercs turned their guns on Aeian and I.

The master came up and caressed Aeians cheek. "I see your tastes haven't changed," He laughed, "Come quietly Draugr and I will leave this fine Asari specimen to her Eclipse acquaintances."

There was no use fighting. He had me, I couldn't fight off this many men with just Aeian and I.

Just as I was about to give up and accept the offer I heard a bullet whizz in the air and it hit on of the Batarains who instantly fell to the ground. Within a split second sniper fire was coming from all directions taking out both Eclipse and Batarians alike. I took my chance and raised my pistol at the masters head and pulled the trigger. It bounced off of his shields like it was absolutely nothing.

"You made a grave mistake." He said pully out his knife and raising it towards Aeian. Before he could do anything Aeian's omnitool glowed orange and she attacked the master lowering his shields. Just as he was about to pull out his pistol a one of the snipers took the opportunity and shot the master in the head.

"FALL BACK!" I heard one of the Batarians yell as they grabbed the masters body and got back on the transport.

Within seconds the transport detached from the station and was on it's way to the nearest mass relay.

I turned around and saw all of the Eclipse and Batarian bodies littered on the ground. I also saw a group of people in blue and black armor approaching us. The leader took off his helmet, Garrus of course he would be here but what he did next shcoked me, he approached Aeian and started to speak. "Things didn't go as planned, but at least we got here in time."

"Yeah, if you would've waited any longer both of us would have been killed." Aeian laughed.

I looked at them slack jawed. "What's going on?"

"Sidonis secure the prisoner for interrogation." Garrus commanded.

"Know Garrus i'll do it." Aeian said as she approached my still form.

She stood on her toes and kissed me tenderly and whisper in my ear. "I love you."

Then it felt like a needle was stabbed into my neck and my world soon went black.


	8. Interrogations and Decisions

_"You are Draugr, it doesn't matter who you were before. SAY IT!" yelled the master as he whipped my back._

_"I am the Draugr. I am the product of the Arena. I am a killer, I am what my Batarian masters made me." I replied in a stern voice, as pain ran through my body._

_"Do you feel pain?" another lash, more pain._

_"No pain is meaningless in the arena, to experience it impedes my survival and loses the Master wealth." I yelled, as I balled my fists._

_"WHO IS YOUR MASTER!" He yelled, one lash for every word._

_"Galaris Caster, the one who spared me from the death I deserved for helping kill Bolva Aktar." I yelled, as I held back a scream._

_"WHY DOES YOUR MASTER DO THIS TO YOU EVERY DAY!" He yelled as he delivered the final lash._

_"To teach me that I am a subserviant, and that I shall never be free. I am property and as property my life is meaningless." I said in an emotionless voice._

_"Good, we are done for today resume your training and bring me fortune tomorrow." He said as he handed the whip back to the Doctore._

_"Yes master." I said through gritted teeth._

_One year. One year of this hell, one year of grovelling and obeying like a good lap dog. I would escape, but I had to wait for the right moment._

_I walked back out into the mock arena we had set up, and started to train with my fellow slaves. I had to admit. I had become a skilled fighter through that year. I was trained with melee weapons, hand to hand combat, and even assault rifles and pistols for when we performed battle reenactments for the crowds. I honestly think the Batarian Hegemony is run by complete morons. Why would you train a sizable part of your slave population in combat? I don't know and I honestly don't care. I was going to escape tonight and I knew just how. In the early days when I won a match I was tied back up and dragged back to the Ludus. After I started winning the master would take me back on his shuttle and reward me with drink and women. He told me if I won more fights, I could have more. I participated of course, after killing an innocent you look for any escape. I had bedded many of the house slaves after my victories. An asari, named Volupa, a Human, named Hannah, and even a Drell, name Sarina. None of them wanted to do it but to gain the Master's trust I was ready to do anything. Eventually I began to enjoy the vice he rewarded me with. It was the only escape from killing. The drink numbed the mind, the women, eased the body. I wasn't just reciting that pledge because he whipped me even harder if I didn't. No, it was because I believed it. I had become my master's creation. He was like a second father now. He rewarded me, when I did good and he punished me when I did bad._

_I was taken from my thoughts by a blow to the head "Ahhh" I yelled._

_"Come on Draugr get your head in the games." Said Leran. Leran was a turian that was captured during a recon mission into the Terminus systems, for something. He told me it was council business._

_"That was a cheap blow Leran, you know I can't see too well to my left." I said. It was true. The loss of my left eye, gave me a significant disadvantage._

_"Oh come on Draugr, if you let that get to you in the arena then you're dead" He said with a laugh. He seemed too at ease in that place. I never could figure him out._

_"It never has gotten me in the arena. I have won every match, thanks to the master's fine teachings and discipline." I lied through my teeth._

_"Always the masters pet aye Draugr?" He said in a taunting voice. "Is that why he took away your name, did he need a new vorcha?"_

_I blacked out, but not like I used to. I saw everything. I saw my hands around his throat, I saw wooden blade I beat him over the head with, I saw the blue blood that was all over my body, when they finally got me off of him. Leran the fool. Most of those imbeciles knew not to get me angry. He was simply an idiot, he had to die for my plan to start._

_"Doctore, bring Draugr to me this instant." Yelled the master from the doorway. He must have heard the commotion. Good, I thought My plan is finally being set in motion._

_I was brought before the master in his chambers. It wreacked of sex and alcohol. _

_"I give you wine and women Draugr, and yet you still spit in my face." he said, as he glared at me with his four eyes._

_"With all due respect master, that turian was an ass." I said._

_"THAT WAS NOT YOUR CALL SLAVE!" He said as he backhanded my face. "Haha, but you are right he was an ass. You are lucky I didn't like him much Draugr." He said with a grin. "Doctore, take him back to his quarters, I am finished here."_

_"Yes master" said the Doctore._

_As we were walking back to the slave quarters I glanced at the Doctore. He was Human about my size. I could take him out with ease. I looked down and saw his side arm. I tripped him and covered his mouth, he struggled but eventually the life gave out of him. The strength I accumulated in the arena outmatched the softness he had developed in patrolling us at the ludus. I grabbed the keys and undid my shackles. I put on his armor and helmet and grabbed his side arm. I would need to time this perfectly to get to where I needed to be. I walked into the garage and saw the masters daughter about to leave on her shuttle for Omega, the spoiled bitch loved going to afterlife I suppose. _

_"You're late, I was supposed to leave 5 minutes ago." she said in a gruff but feminine voice. _

_"I am sorry my lady, I had to escort one of the slaves back to his cell." I said with fake regret._

_"Whatever, just get in or else we're going to be late." She said irritated._

_I climbed into the shuttle and took a seat. I was almost free. I could feel the elation coming but I had to suppress it, I wasn't done yet. _

_I felt the shuttle take off, and take us into the dark void that is space. I looked out the window and felt awww. It reminded me of a more innocent time looking at the stars. _

_"We will hit the relay in five minutes." then I had five minutes._

_I snuck up on the guards on at a time. They were stupid enough to spread out not anticipating an attack. I snapped the turians neck, slit the humans throat, and stabbed the asari in the head. _

_Now it was the pilots turn. I slowly walked up behind him and put my knife to his neck. _

_"What do you want he asked?" He asked clearly scared his four eyes burning into mine._

_"Put the ship on auto pilot and I will spare your life." I whispered menacingly._

_He tinkered with the instruments for a few minutes before he turned back to me._

_"There it's finished." He said visably shaking._

_"Thank you." I said before I stapped him in the throat. _

_Now it was time to go see the master's daughter. _

_I slowly walked up to the door to her quarters and opened the door. _

_"Slave! What are you doing? Did I say you could be here?" She asked in a commanding voice._

_"No but just wanted to show the master my appreciation for all he taughte me." I said as I approached her. _

_"What! No! NOOO!" She yelled. _

_That night she yelled for anybody to help her but it never came. All the way to Omega I soiled his daughter. All the hatred I had for him I took out on this young Batarian woman. I had only seen her twice my entire time at the Ludus. Lucky for me the second time she was throwing a fit about going to Omega that day. Oh I made her love it and by the end of the night she was screaming my name. Draugr. _

"He's waking up contact Garrus." I heard a soft voice say as I woke up from what felt like the longest nap of my life.

I opened my eyes but was blinded by how bright the light that shown in my face. I suddenly felt a hand grip my shoulder.

"It's alright Thomas you are safe." I heard Aeian's voice say.

I turned my head to look at her but when I tried to move my hands to touch her I noticed I was bound to the chair I was in.

Aeian must have noticed my discomfort because she immediately reassured me "It is just a precaution. Garrus doesn't trust you yet."

I looked at her in the eyes "What the hell is going on, why were you helping Archangel?" I asked staying in character.

"I have been looking for a way out of the mercenary game for some time now. When I heard about Archangel a couple of months ago I saw my chance. When I contacted him though, he didn't need another soldier, but he did need an informant." Aeian said

"Why lie to me?" I asked genuinley wanting to know.

"You came and disrupted my plans, I never expected to find someone else, but I found you. The reason I didn't tell you was because I wasn't sure where you stood on the issues." She said looking down.

Before I could respond Garrus came into the room. He walked over and sat in front of me.

"I know everything about you Draugr." He stated bluntly as he looked me in the eyes.

"Is that so? Why don't you enlighten me." I grunted defiantly

"I know you were a slave, and I know you were forced to fight for the Eclipse, but I am extending to you an offer. I want you to join my crew and help us rid this station of organized crime."

I looked at him bewildered "After all I have done to help the crime on this station, you are offering me a place with your crew?"

He looked at me distastefully. "If it was up to me I wouldn't be doing this, but Aeian is a trusted contact and she says that you will be a valued asset to our operations. So are you in?"

I looked at Aeian soft smiling face and I already new my answer, "I'll join you."

"Good, your first mission is tomorrow." Garrus said getting up and walking out of the room."You can let him out of those restraints now Aeian."

Aeian immediately disabled the restraints and hugged me.

"What now?" I asked holding onto her, I already knew what was going to happen to this squad. It was doomed, but me and Aeian were going to survive.

"I don't know, but we'll figure it out." She whispered into my ear.


	9. Old Friends, Old Enemies

"So what's the mission?" I asked getting my assault rifle ready.

Garrus looked up at me and gave the Turian version of a grin. "We have discovered where Tarak, the leader of the Blue Suns, lives. We are going to go there and take him down once and for all."

I knew how this was going to end. "Did Aeian tell you about the last time we tried to take him out?" I asked remembering the botched mission to attack the Blue Suns headquarters.

He looked at me annoyed, "That was an outright attack, we will be going in steathily and taking out the guards first."

"Stealth isn't really my style." I stated matter of factly

"It is tonight." He replied bluntly

"Fine but don't say I didn't warn you." I said finishing up with my assault rifle.

"Here put that on the rifle." Garrus said handing me a cylinder shaped object. _A silencer? of course stealthy, right._

"Who all is coming with us?" I asked getting up from the table I was sitting on.

"I want to keep this operation small, so just you and Eluam." He said walking out of the room headed for the transport.

"I see, and Eluam is?" _Who the hell was Eluam? _I asked myself aswell as Garrus.

"He is a Batarian tech expert we are gonna need him on this mission." Garrus said making it out of our base of operations.

"Garrus, I don't know if you know this, but Batarians are not my most favorite people." I stated matter of factly

At that Garrus turned around and looked at me dead in the eyes. "Whatever your issues from your time as a slave I want you to put it aside for this mission, it is too important for a silly thing like xenophobia to screw up."

_My xenophobia is justified_ I said to myself but silently nodded.

We walked silently until we got to our shuttle when I saw a Batarian sitting down fooling with his omnitool.

"Eluam are you ready?" Garrus asked him as we both entered the shuttle.

He looked up from his omnitool and silently nodded.

"Good let's do this." Garrus said as he closed the hatch and got in the cockpit.

"How long until we get there?" I asked laying down on the seats.

"About two hours." He stated bluntly.

_Dammit._

Surprisingly the trip to Taraks home didn't take too long.

The three of us piled out and quickly took up position. Garrus quckly picked off the two guards who were outside and we slowly made our way to the door. Eluam made quick work of the locked door and we made it inside.

The place was huge to say the least and about ten times fancier than Aeian's room was back at Eclipse headquarters.

After admiring the hourse I looked over to Garrus where he signalled us to split up. I took the east side and he took the west. Eluam stayed behind to guard the door.

I walked down the hall and made quick work of the first guard I saw by snapping his neck. Turian necks made an odd sound when twisted in a certain way.

Next I saw a Batarian in a room, and it looked like he was guarding something. I quickly pulled out my silenced assault rifle and fired three rounds into his chest. I slowly entered the room and heard crying.

I looked to where the crying was coming from and saw a cell with an Asari inside.

I searched the Batarians body and found the code for the cell and quickly made my way there.

Opening the cell she finally noticed my presence. "Draugr?" she asked looking up at me with tears in her eyes.

"Lana? I thought you were dead." I said helping her up.

She quietly laughed "Not yet, but I knew the Eclipse would come for me."

I looked at the ground and then back at her. "I'm not with the Eclipse anymore Lana, i'm with Archangel."

"Why would you do that?" she asked looking betrayed.

"They tried to sell me back into slavery Lana." I stated bluntly

She looked at me shocked,"Those bastards I have been a slave here for a good bit and it is hell Tarak has forced me to do...things." she quietly said.

"I'm sorrry, we should have never left you behind." I said hugging her.

She squeezed back "No I volunteered to cover you, it is my own fault. Did the Eclipse even look for us?" she asked hopefully

"The Eclipse never even sent rescue opts to see if anyone was left." I stated sadly

She looked conflicted for a moment "What should I do?" She asked.

I was conflicted if she joined Garrus's squad there was a good chance she would die, but if she left without supplies or credits then she would die or be captured into slavery again.

"Come with me." I said as I walked down the hall again.

Just as we were making our way up the stairs I heard gunshots ring out from one of the rooms above.

Suddenly I got a message from Eluam on my omni tool that said to abort the mission.

I quickly made my way back to Eluam, where he ran out of the building.

"What about Garrus, you four eyed bastard." I yelled as he made his way to the shuttle.

I was about to go back in when I heard the sound of Blue Suns dropships approaching.

"Son of a bitch!" I yelled running to our transport. I quickly made it in and the shuttle took off.

"So Draugr who is your friend." I heard Garrus say from the cockpit.

I stared ahead to somewhat shocked that Garrus actually survived and on top of that he was 'grinning' like a mad man

"You're such an asshole." I choked out as I took a seat across from Eluam.

"Seriously though who is your friend?" Garrus asked suspiciously.

I looked at Lana who stood awkwardly in the middle of the shuttle.

"She is Aeian and I's friend who was apparently captured by Tarak in the botched mission on the Blue Suns headquarters." I stated simply. Looking at Lana and motioning for her to sit beside me.

"I see." He said quietly as if contemplating what he was going to do with her when we landed.

The ride back to our base was quiet, but full of tension. When we finally touched down Garrus came in the back and grabbed Lana by the arm and damn near dragged her out.

"Hey!" I yelled breaking his hold on her arm. As soon as I did that Eluam's pistol was pointed at the back of my head.

I looked around and noticed we were not at our base, but in a back alley on one of the even seedier places on Omega.

"Draugr, she is a mercenary she can't be trusted." He stated simply, walking back to the shuttle.

"How many of your men were former mercenaries, hell I was a mercenary." I shouted at his back.

He spun on his foot and looked me dead in the eyes. "Those men proved themselves to me. Tonight you did good but you haven't won my loyalty yet."

"Why not give her the chance?!" I yelled my anger rising.

"I read Aeian's notes in her reports about her. Her loyalty never wavered to the Eclipse the entire time Aeian was monitoring the place." He stated calmly

"Look at this place Garrus," I said as I pointed to the filth all around us "we can't just leave her!" I screamed.

"The answer is no Draugr, i'm sorry,but I can't risk having a leak in my operations they are too important to the people of this station." He said in a tone that gave the aura that this matter was done."

"Fine, just give me a minute." I said defeated.

"Draugr you can't just leave me here." She stated worriedly

I looked at her and then to the Batarian behind me. "Eluam, your a tech expert. Do you have a spare omni tool."

He nodded handing me one of his omni tools. I quickly slid the omni tool onto her hand.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"This." I stated bluntly transferring five thousand credits to her account.

"Thank you" she said quietly

I looked at her sympathetically and handed her my pistol. "Take this you'll need it more than me." She nodded and was about to walk away when I put my hand on her shoulder. "I just have one request, get off this station and make something of yourself."

She nodded again and disappeared into the alley. I turned around and walked back into the shuttle and sat down quietly. The shuttle lifted off the ground and we took off into the air. We were about fifteen minutes into the flight when I heard a gruff voice "You owe me an omni tool." Eluam stated bluntly.

"So you can talk?" I chuckled quietly.


	10. Touching Moments and Freak of Nature

_One week later..._

I stroked the brush full of black paint over the yellow sun that had once adorned my chest into battle. Painting, I never found it that interesting, but I found it necessary given the recent turn of events. I'm not in the Eclipse anymore, so I might aswell paint over their symbol.

"What are you doing?" I heard Aeian ask from the doorway of our shared quarters. Her head cocked to the side looking at me with a grin. I loved it when she grinned, with every smile she gave me she chipped away another piece of my bittered heart and made way for a new one.

I looked at her with my own smile "Nothing much just tying some loose ends." I stated finishing the final strokes on the chest of my armor covering the eclipsed sun forever.

Aeian came in and sat next to me and looked down at the armor and frowned. "It looks so plain, incomplete." She stated bluntly as she put her hand under my chin and turned my head to look at her. "I read up about the Draugar after we met, " I have her a funny look "I was curious, but anyway I did some research and from my studies Draugar were undead somewhat intelligent beings that existed in norse mythology to either to guard their treasure, wreak havoc on living beings, or torment those who had wronged them in life." She said.

"And what exactly does this have to do with painting my armor?" I chuckled as I looked back down at the plain black armor. She did have a point, it was very plain.

She scoffed "It has everything to do with your armor, it is your title, so your armor should reflect that title." she said, touching the armor with her bare blue hand.

"So, what you want me to paint an undead viking on my armor?" I asked with a laugh as I put my arm around her waist and slid her closer to me.

She crinkled her nose at that. "Not the whole viking, but what about the head?" She asked as she snuggled up against me. I looked down at the armor again, that would look pretty cool.

I picked up the brush to start painting again when I felt Aeian's hand on mine. "Let me." she said as she took the brush from my hand and dipped it in the water to clean the black off. She then took the brush and dipped it in some blue paint I had out and started painting. Her hand delicately secured the brush in her fingers and she looked as if she was in her natural element, as if her and the brush became one in the few minutes that she was painting an undead viking on a piece of armor she was truly at peace.

She finished and slowly let go of the brush and looked at me again. "What do you think?" She ask me with a grin as I looked down at her finished work.

I was stunned, it was a beautiful piece of artwork. It captured the pain and the anguish in the face of the undead creature that was over my left breast. It was dead, but also alive, it had a mission and it would see it through till the end.

"How did you do this so quickly?" I asked mesmerized at the beauty of this art.

She looked down at the armor with longing. "It is a gift." she stated quietly.

I looked at her and touched my hand to hers. "How did you become so good at this?" I asked as I looked her in her beautiful sapphire eyes.

"I was always good at this, when I was younger I fancied becoming an artist and selling my paintings on the citadel." She said with longing remembering a distant memory that probably happened centuries ago.

I looked at her sadly "So what stopped you?" I asked.

"My father died," she said sadly "with him gone, I not only lost a loving father, but also the only person I could ever look to for advice." she looked away remembering the father she longed for.

I put my arm around her again and brought her head to my shoulder. "What about your mother?" I asked as I rubbed her shoulder gently.

"Ha, she was always so busy with her work that she never had time for family. Even when I did see her she was either too tired to talk or too occupied planning things to ever pay attention to my problems." she sniffled

"So why did you give up on art if you loved it so much." I inquired.

She looked up at me and I saw tears silently falling from her eyes."After my father died I tried to talk to my mother, but she would never listen. I got angry for a long time, joined the Eclipse because it gave me some order in the chaos that seemed to be going on around me."

"Where is your mother now?" I asked stroking her shoulder

"Last time we talked she was a commander on the Destiny Ascension. She was trying to get me to stop my marauding with the Eclipse, but Goddess that must have been two hundred years ago. She would be a matriarch by now." She said just now realizing it had been that long.

"Have you ever that about making amends?" I put my forehead to hers.

She opened her sapphire eyes and looked straight into my brown one. "Recently I have flirted with the idea, but I wouldn't know what to say. I haven't even been back to the citadel since me and my mother had our falling out."

"We'll make it a point to visit there one day and see what happens." I said delicately not trying to push her.

She looked at me again and kissed me gently "I would like that."

We slipped into a comfortable silence sitting in each others embrace when Sidonis suddenly interrupted us.

"Uh, sorry to interrupt, but Garrus is getting the whole squad to meet up in the mission room, he says it's urgent." he informed awkwardly as he quickly walked out.

"Looks like that ends our bonding time." I chuckled as she got up and punched me in the shoulder.

"You asshole, making me show my emotions, now Sidonis is gonna tell everybody." She joked as she slowly walked over to the closet to get her armor.

I started putting my own armor on and quickly admired the new artwork once again.

"What about your armor?" I asked looking at the eclipsed sun that still covered her chest and shoulders.

She looked down at her own armor and realized that she was still adorned in the eclipse insignia. "We can paint it when we get back from this mission." she smiled as she finshed putting her armor on and walked out of our room.

I finshed putting my own armor on a few minutes later and quickly made my way up the stairs to the mission room where Garrus and the rest of the squad were waiting.

"Now that we are all here we got something big, the Bloodpack are receiving a huge shipment of weapons tonight and that isn't even the best part, Garm is leading it personally. I am going to need all of you ready to make sure this shipment isn't successful." He commanded firmly. As he looked all of us in the eyes.

We all nodded silently and proceeded to get our weapons ready and head out.

About an hour later everyone was piled into the shuttle and had their game face on and was ready for whatever the Bloodpack had to throw at them.

I looked around and quickly noticed Eluam looking at me intently. "See something you like?" I asked tauntingly to the four eyed bastard.

"Yes, that artwork on the armor looks astounding, it is good to see you not dressed in the colors of our enemy." He said simply as he looked at me dead in the eye.

His four eyes looked into my one eye and it seemed like an eternity before I answered. "Thank you Aeian designed it for me."

He nodded and looked over to Aeian, who was sitting beside me. "I didn't know you were interested in art."

"It was a passion I had growing up on the citadel." she stated smiling

"Gifted in the arts aswell as warfare if only we were all so lucky." He chuckled as he fell back into his usually silent state.

It took about another three hours in the packed shuttle before we all finally made it to the dropzone.

Garrus gathered us all in a circle and looked at us. "Aeian, Sidonis, and I are going to make up sniper support. Eluam, Draugr, and the rest of you will be on the ground assault. Protect Mae'en at all costs, after we clear out the Bloodpack he is going to set the charges and send that transport to hell." We all nodded and took our positions

I turned to look at Mae'en, twitchy as ever, how the hell was he such a talented explosive expert when I have never seen him keep his hands still. He as an older salarian about thirty four, he wasn't long for the universe, but he was determined to take all the mercs he could with him.

After about another hour of waiting the Bloodpack finally showed up. Garm was accompanied by about fifteen vorcha and another Krogan. They lumbered, in a way only Krogans do, to the transport and met with the Batarian crew, they talked for about ten mintues when Garrus gave the signal. Then all hell broke loose.

Within the first minute of fire half the batarian crew lay dead as well as five vorcha. I aimed my assault rile at the Krogan beside garm and fired until I had to reload. His shield went down after a sniper shot damaged his shields even more, and quickly a hail of bullets from Mae'en killed him. I advanced forward and took aim at another vorcha, quickly ending his life before he had a chance to aim his flamethrower at me.

I must have not been paying attention because I felt my shield take a few rounds to my left and saw what remained of the Batarian crew behind cover firing at whoever they could on both sides. I quickly made my way to some cover, but not before I saw Garm take some fire from them. He quickly charged their position and quickly finished them off. Another two vorcha fell to our fire and Garm sound the retreat.

I saw many of his vorcha fall as he and his men ran.

"Secure this position while I get the explosives ready." Mae'en commanded as he immediately started getting the explosives ready.

"You heard him!" I yelled as we secured the position from any reinforcements. Just as we were finishing up Sidonis and Aeian appeared from out of nowhere, at least to me.

"Where is Garrus?" Eluam asked looking for our fearless leader.

Aeian looked annoyed "He went after Garm and what was left of his Vorcha"

I laughed "You don't sound to happy about that."

"He just took off thinking he was a fucking Justicar or something, the fool." she crossed her arms and sat next to me.

"We are ready." Mae'en said from behind us as he looked for conformation to blow it up.

Sidonis nodded and the entire transport burst into flames.

"Damn, that's beautiful." I said putting my arm around Aeian as our comrades cheered at the burning corpse of a ship.

We stayed around for another hour when Garrus suddenly appeared, stumbling with every step.

Sidonis quickly ran over and helped Garrus up and walked him to the rest of us. He looked at all of us in the eye frantically. "That Krogan is a freak of nature." He chuckled before sitting down.

We all laughed and celebrated our victory.


	11. Oh Death

_TWO WEEKS LATER..._

_"DRAUGR, fifteen lashes!" I heard the burely Batarian yell in his sickenly gruff, deep voice. I looked around at my fellow slaves, and saw the fear in their eyes. I felt guilty about doing this, but I pushed those feelings aside and focused on the important thing. Survival._

_I lifted the whip that was in my hands and sliced it across the bare Turian infront of me's back. His metallic skin prevented it from splitting open, but that would soon change. _

_I lifted up the whip again and hit the same spot. This time dark blue blood came seeping out and a hiss was heard from the Turian in front of me. _

_Again, he grunted and more blood dripped down his back. I looked down and let myself rest, I knew this Turian. His name was Oris, he was an middle aged turian who was no stranger to the whip. He often consoled me when I first came to this terrible place. Now I was the one who was flogging him and I wondered what he thought of me. It had been a long time since I was housed with the other slaves. I was housed with the champions of our masters house, it was just me and surprisingly a Salarian named Power, Soredra. _

_"That's three TWELVE MORE!" I heard the master yell from the ledge. _

_Four more times, and hell fell to the ground. I looked at him with pity, he was old, he couldn't take much more punishment like this. I looked back up to the master and he gave me a hard stare, it was clear what he wanted me to do. _

_I lifted the whip again and sliced it down on his fallen form. I did this until his lashes were up. _

_"That's enough Draugr, we will make a Doctore out of you yet." He laughed and walked back into his house. I looked down at Oris and he looked up at me, I gave him a hard stare and nodded. He told me this is what I would have to do to gain the Master's trust. I would have to be the right hand of the devil just to escape this awful place. _

_The other slaves started going about there daily activities, ignoring me as they should. _

_Silently I made my way back to my quarters and sat down on my bed. Tears did not come anymore, my mind would suffer to spare my body the pain._

_"Draugr the master needs you." I heard one of the guards say at my doorway. I walked with him, to the masters room and looked him dead in the eyes._

_"Do you know why I have brought you here Draugr?" He asked looking me up and down . _

_"No." I stated bluntly keeping as best eye contact as I could, damn four eyes, you can't tell which one to look at. _

_He did a motion with his hands and I felt a sudden pain to the back of my head and soon my body it the ground. The guard who was behind me was beating me with the butt of his rifle. _

_I looked up at the master in shock as he motioned for more guards to join in. The beating went on for about five minutes._

_He silently approached me and bent down and whispered in my ear, "Never hesitate when I give you an order."_

"COME ON GET UP AND LET'S MOVE!" I heard someone yell from the doorway. It was Eluam and he looked like he had just went one on one with a battlemaster.

I got up in a flash and started putting on my armor, I looked to my right and saw Aeian had already started, she must have woken before me. "What's the situation?" I asked hearing explosions and gunfire nearby.

"Blue Suns are bombing the entire place!" He yelled guarding the door. I looked over to Aeian with concern. Her face became filled with panic for a split second before it was replaced with determination.

"Where is Garrus?" Aeian asked finshing up her armor and grabbing her sniper rifle.

"Haven't seen him since he went to go take care of that Blood Pack operation."

"Sidonis?" Aeian asked taking position next to Eluam at the door.

"Haven't seen him since last night." He said.

I finshed up my armor and grabbed my assault rifle. I nodded to Eluam and we slowly made our way outside.

Blood was everywhere in all of its various shades. I looked and saw many of our former squad mates as well as Suns littered on the ground.

"How many of us are left!" I yelled as we made our way to cover.

"Unconfirmed, but I haven't seen any of us since the bombings started." He stated as we made our way up the stairs.

I looked at him with shock "How did you survive." I asked suspiciously, I couldn't but think he might have had something to do with this. Even if he did get killed in the game. He was a Batarian he might have been an agent.

"I was asleep, the others must have been awake when the attack started. It seems they have just been rushing this position repeatedly." He said staring at me with his four eyes.

I let it go and we made it to the top of the stairs and looked out to the other side of the bridge. It seems like the mercenaries were already starting to fortify their position. We had to get out of here, all of Garrus's squad was going to die here, and I don't consider myself an exception to the rule.

"We've gotta go." Aeian said quietly. I looked down at her and silently agreed. It was a dick move, but if this was anything like the game Garrus would survive.

"Cowards." Eluam spat as he took cover and looked out at the mercenaries prepared to fire at any who came in his sight.

"What do you suggest we do, the base has fallen, Garrus is nowhere to be seen." Aeian yelled as she looked at Eluams back.

"We honor our fallen comrades and take as many of these mercs down as we can." Eluam said cooly, as he fired is assault rifle at a group of Blue Suns who were walking toward the base, understadibly thinking it was empty.

Eluam made a good case, maybe I could change the course of this game "Okay, we stay here and fight until Garrus gets back then we try to make a run for it." I said knowing full well that there was no running once Garrus got back. I took up position next to Eluam and aimed my assault rifle and fired at the group of Suns.

Aeian looked at us like we were crazy "It seems like i'm outnumbered." She begrudgingly said as she aimed her sniper rifle and picked of a Sun.

This lasted for another two hours before we heard a voice from behind us, "What the hell happened here." I turned around to see Garrus standing their gripping his talons in rage. I looked at his eyes and saw the panic and anger fighting for supremecy.

I was about to reply but Eluam beat me to it. "The Blue Suns attacked late last night with bombing raids, and then they sent multiple ground squads to take the rest of us out, but they were unsuccessful." He said motioning to the many dead Blue Suns scattered throughout the base.

"Is this all that's left?" He questioned looking at us hoping it wasn't.

Aeian looked at him sympathetically, "Sorry Garrus, but this is it."

"Everyone?" He asked sitting down rubbing his head fringe.

"Everyone except Sidonis." Eluam stated bluntly as he turned around to shoot at a group of Blue Suns creeping across the bridge.

Garrus sat silently for a few minutes before he finally came to the truely terrible conclusion. "Dammit!" He yelled as he took out his sniper rifle and started picking off the Suns on the bridge with inconceivable accuracy.

We silently held the position for another few hours picking off Blue Suns patrols as they tried to cross the bridge finally they stopped and just waited on the other side.

After a while of sitting there guns ready and nothing happening Garrus quietly stood up and headed down the stairs and started grabbing our fallen comrades and putting them in crudely put together body bags.

I looked at him sadly before looking at Aeian. "It doesn't look like they are sending another wave anytime soon."

"Yeah" She said tiredly trying to keep her eyes open.

"Perhaps we should take shifts for the night." He said quietly in his gruff voice.

"Agreed." I said escorting Aeian to one of the couch behind us. I looked at her and for the first time she looked hopeless.

"What's wrong?" I asked as she layed down.

She looked at me like I just grew two heads "What's wrong? I'll tell you what's wrong, we are surrounded. We can't fight off this many Suns."

"Maybe not," I said truthfully their was no reason to believe I would survive this,"but we at least have to try, if not for our own sake, but for those guys Garrus is laying to rest as we speak."

She silently nodded and turned to her side, apparently our conversation was over.

I got up and walked towards the ledge to help Eluam watch the bridge.

"Trouble in paradise?" Eluam asked with a laugh, his four eyes squinting as he smiled to himself.

I turned to him with an irritated look on my face, "Oh ha ha very funny, didn't know you Batarians even made jokes."

"All the time you spent on my species home planet and you never heard a joke?" He asked

"Didn't exactly go joking with your kind." I said unconciously rubbing the brand that was put on my left shoulder.

We stayed quiet for a couple more minutes before Eluam spoke up,"You do realize not all Batarians support the slave trade. Only the upper class does."

I looked at skeptically. "I saw a lot of Batarians at our matches in the arena."

"Before our people reached the stars, the Batarians enslaved each other. We unwittingly created a caste system. The higher caste still own slaves, the middle caste go out on raids as pirates and slavers, the lowest caste, my caste, are no longer slaves, but we aren't much better." He stated quietly looking at the line.

I looked at him quietly, "Why are you telling me this?" I asked

"Because before we die, you should know that not all Batarians are what you view us as. I did not enslave you and neither did my entire race." He said as he got up and headed to the other couch to take a nap.

I quietly watched the line for the rest of the night.


End file.
